How To Write Better Content – In Ten Simple Steps

We all want to write better content. Content can be engaging, exciting, or…excruciatingly painful to read. Want to avoid the latter? Use these ten simple steps.

Step One

Come up with fresh content. It’s not 1990 and you can’t keep recycling the same content over and over again. Words and phrases can become stagnant. New ideas and terms can breathe life into old and boring copy.

Step Two

Make your content “skimmable”. No one has the time or patience to read linear content anymore – especially if you’re writing for digital platforms. Break up longs blocks of text into bite size pieces.

Step Three

Keep it simple. If your customer has to look up your copy in a dictionary to understand it, you aren’t going to be making the sale. Keep your words understandable and relevant.

Step Four

Catch their attention quickly. People’s attention spans are consistently decreasing. Make sure you capture their attention within the first two sentences, or else you just may lose them.

Step Five

Use action words. Don’t bore your reader with dull copy; write to excite! By writing copy that is actionable, you are encouraging your customer to engage with your brand.

Step Six

Get emotional. Engage people with copy that has passion by creating a shared, emotional experience of desire, delight, excitement, and awe. It’s a challenge, but the rewards are extraordinary.

Step Seven

Find a rhythm. How does your content flow? Read it aloud and see how the rhythm sounds. Feel the punctuation and the stress patterns of words. Rewrite it if it sounds off when you read aloud.

Step Eight

Words matter. Read with your eyes and your ears. If a word is possibly confusing, ambiguous, or offensive, look for a different way of saying it.

Step Nine

Don’t oversell or undersell. The best content isn’t about duping the reader into believing or buying something. It’s about identifying and amplifying needs, alleviating fears and motivating them to action. When you give your customers enough information, the right information, and then put it where it needs to be on the page, you show that you care more about them than the sale.

Step Ten

Talk to your customers, not at them. When your customers feel like you’re connecting with them on a deeper level you are more likely to make the sale. Show you understand their hopes, dreams, fears and desires better than the competition, and you’ll have a customer for life.